Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday that turmoil at home or abroad were not in the country's interests as its bitter past has shown, pledging that Beijing will never stray from its proclaimed path of peaceful development.
Xi has jangled regional nerves with a more muscular approach to diplomacy since assuming the presidency two years ago, ramping up development of advanced weapons and being more assertive in territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas.
Speaking at a high-level forum in Boao, on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, Xi said that China was ready to sign more friendship treaties with its neighbors and proposed holding dialogue among Asian civilizations.